Sony Will Not Hold Traditional Press Conference at E3 2018, Will Focus on Four Titles Instead

May 11, 2018Written by Anthony Nash

With E3 right around the corner, it’s generally custom for companies to begin announcing plans for their respective conferences. One of those companies, Sony, had been pretty coy on what they planned on doing for the industry show, but not anymore. According to Layden (via the PlayStation Blogcast), Sony’s showcase will once again be taking place on a Monday, with the show scheduled for June 11, 2018, at 6 pm PT. However, instead of a normal show filled with tons of reveals, Sony will instead be focusing on doing “deep dives” of some of their upcoming titles.

Instead of the pomp and circumstance of years past, Layden said that this year’s showcase will instead be used to get fans ready for four highly anticipated titles: Death Stranding by Kojima Productions, Ghost of Tsushima by Sucker Punch Productions, Marvel’s Spider-Man by Insomniac Games, and The Last of Us Part II by Naughty Dog. Despite this, Layden has assured fans that announcements from third-party publishers and independent developers would also be apart of the showcase as well.

Of course, the reasoning behind this is simply due to the fact that there likely isn’t much to announce from Sony. Most of their internal studios seem to already be working on announced games, so the only logical thing to do is show those off instead of reveal new titles. “The last two or three years, if you were a careful observor, you’ll see that we continue to try to refresh and remake and reignite what we do at what used to be called the press conference for E3,” Layden said. “We want to make sure that it’s fresh and that it reflects the kind of stories we’re telling and the new entertainment we have to give to our fans—not just at the event, but worldwide through the live stream.”

It’s important to note that, when Sony usually opens up about their shows (as they did with PSX 2018), they’re being honest. With that in mind, I wouldn’t expect much in the way of groundbreaking announcements, but Layden has said fans will enjoy it despite the difference. “So today I would just like to talk about helping people understand where we’re going with the E3 event this year, and I’ll just come right out and say it. E3 this year will feature exclusive looks and deep dives on four upcoming titles—four of our big titles… We have great content. We have fantastic updates. I think everyone will be thrilled to see it. And we’re taking kind of a different angle on how we’re bringing it out.”

With that being said, make sure to let us know in the comments how you feel about this change of course for E3 2018. Will you be tuning in to see more on those 4 games, or were you hoping for a more traditional showcase?